Device for printing and dispensing labels

ABSTRACT

A device for printing and dispensing labels in which a printing mechanism and a label strip advancing mechanism are actuated by movement of a secondary lever and the secondary lever is moved by a primary lever only after actuation of the primary lever to exceed a predetermined biasing force tending to maintain the secondary lever stationary.

United States Patent [191 Becker et al.

[451 Oct. 14, 1975 [54] DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND DISPENSING LABELS [75] Inventors: Werner Becker, Hirschhorn; Heinz Kistner, Neckarsteinach; Heinrich Volk, Beerfelden, all of Germany [73] Assignee: Dymo Industries, Inc., San

Francisco, Calif.

22 Filed: Aug. 22, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 499,790

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 7, l973 Germany 2345249 [52] U.S. Cl. 101/288; lO1/29l; l56/384 [5l] Int. Cl. B65C 11/00 [58] Field of Search 101/92, 288, 291, 29.2;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,674,609 7/1972 Schrotz et a1 156/577 Primary ExaminerI-larland S. Skogquist Attorney, Agent, or FirmSamuelson & Jacob [57] ABSTRACT A device for printing and dispensing labels in which a printing mechanism and a label strip advancing mechanism are actuated by movement of a secondary lever and the secondary lever is moved by a primary lever only after actuation of the primary lever to exceed a predetermined biasing force tending to maintain the secondary lever stationary.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures US. Patent 0a. 14, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 3,911,817

l-lll'l lllllv l lllllll\l U.S. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,911,817

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DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND DISPENSING LABELS The present invention relates to a device for printing and dispensing labels carried on a label strip advanced in increments, the device including a primary, or hand, lever maintained in a rest position by a primary spring and coupled to a printing mechanism movable relative to a printing platen, and to advancing means for advancing the label strip in such a way that when the hand lever is pivoted inwardly or depressed about its pivotal axis out of the rest position and when the hand lever is pivoted back to the rest position, the advancing means will advance the label strip by a distance equal to the label spacing of the labels on the strip and the printing mechanism will print a label located on the printing platen after overcoming a resistance or biasing force opposing the movement thereof.

A device of the same general type is disclosed in the German Published Specification 1,51 1,884 publication date June 12, 1969. In that device, the hand lever is coupled to a printing mechanism and to a feed roll for the label strip in such a way that when the hand lever is depressed, or pivoted inwardly, initially, the advancement of the label strip is effected, the feed roll being moved by a feed ratchet which abuts an abutment of the feed roll when the hand lever is pivoted inwardly, and at the end of the pivot movement of the hand lever inwardly the printing mechanism is urged against the label located in the printing position. In order that the labels are provided with readable print despite a relatively weak operation of the hand lever, which might occur by virtue of tiring of the operator, the feed ratchet is guided in this device in such a way that it slips from the abutment of the feed roll when the hand lever is pivoted inwardly, shortly before the printing mechanism contacts the label to be printed. The slipping of the feed ratchet from the abutment of the feed roll at the end of the advancing movement brings about the effect that the entire force acting upon the hand lever, and suddenly released after overcoming a maximum resistance, or biasing force, is directed to the impacting of the printing mechanism, so that a readable print is always achieved.

The printing mechanism of the prior art device is equipped with a so-called down-slap inking mechanism, in which in the retracted position of the printing mechanism an inking pad is urged by a spring against the printing mechanism in order to ink the individual printing types for the next printing operation. When the hand lever is pivoted inwardly in counteraction to the force of the primary spring and in counteraction to the resistance opposing the movement of the feed roll and the outward pivoting of the inking device, the printing mechanism moves in the direction toward the printing platen and prints the label located there when the resistance is overcome. The force with which the printing mechanism engages the label to be printed essentially depends upon the force with which the hand lever is pivoted inwardly. This force, however, is subject to substantial variations, in particular by virtue of tiring of the operator or by virtue of the fact that persons of differing strength may handle the device. Although a certain minimum force is always available in the prior art device for the printingoperation, prints of varying ink intensity do result on the printed labels. A further disadvantage of the prior art device is that the printing types of the printing mechanism are prone to be damaged easily when the hand lever is operated particularly strongly, because they are then urged against the printing platen with too much force. Finally, the prior art device has the disadvantage that both the advancement of the label strip and the printing operation must be effected during the inward pivoting movement of the hand lever, while during the return pivoting movement of the hand lever the printing mechanism merely is returned to the initial retracted position together with the down-slap inking device coacting therewith.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of the initially mentioned type in which the described disadvantages of the prior art device are avoided and in which a uniform print intensity of the print on the labels is achieved, independent of varying forces with which the hand lever is pivoted inwardly.

An important feature of the invention, accordingly, is that the primary or hand lever is coupled through a secondary spring to a secondary lever pivotable in the pivot plane of the hand lever, the pivotable end of the secondary lever carrying the printing mechanism and the secondary lever being pivotable against a printing platen, after overcoming a biasing force, so that when the hand lever is depressed, or pivoted inwardly, the secondary spring arranged between the two levers is further biased, the lever carrying the printing mechanism being moved by the biased secondary spring together with the printing mechanism against the printing platen upon reaching a spring force which is greater than the maximum resistance of the biasing force.

This arrangement permits the printing mechanism to strike the label located on the printing platen with the same force in all instances. The resistance counteracting the movement of the printing mechanism against the printing platen can be brought about by the inking device or by other means such as, for example, a snap spring or a knee lever pivot operating against a spring. When the hand lever is pivoted inwardly, the printing mechanism initially remains stationary in its initial retracted position, and the primary spring of the hand lever and the secondary spring disposed between the primary or hand lever and the secondary lever carrying the printing mechanism merely are further compressed. If the secondary spring positioned between the two levers attains a bias force which is greater than the resistance force which counteracts the movement of the printing mechanism against the printing platen, the secondary spring will urge the printing mechanism against the printing platen.

When the hand lever pivots back into the rest position, according to the invention, an abutment surface of the hand lever abuts an abutment surface of the secondary lever carrying the printing mechanism and urges it, together with the mechanism, back into the initial position.

Advantageously, the secondary lever carrying the printing mechanism is pivotable about the same axis as the primary, or hand lever and extends in a direction opposite to the hand lever as viewed from this axis. The advancing device for the label strip can be coupled to the hand lever or to the lever carrying the printing mechanism in such a way that it advances the label strip, while the hand lever is pivoted inwardly, or on the other hand, while the hand lever pivots back under the effect of the primary spring.

The label strip may be composed of a carrier or backing strip and self-adhesive labels adhering thereon in rows, or it may be composed of a backing strip and a self-adhesive strip adhering thereon, from which a label is respectively severed after the printing and advancing operation. The label strip, however, may be provided without any backing strip, or it may be provided with an adhesive layer capable of being activated by heat or solvents. The advancing device for the label strip may include a pair of rollers, or a feed roll with teeth for engaging the carrier strip, or a clamp pusher or a grasp pusher.

In the description to follow, an embodiment has been explained in greater detail in referring to the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the labelling device according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line IlII of FIG. 1.

With the device illustrated in FIG. 1, self-adhesive labels 1, which adhere in a row to a carrier strip 2, are printed as they are advanced from the label supply roll 3 to the label dispensing station by a printing mechanism 6 movable against the printing platen 5, and the carrier strip 2 is drawn in increments around reversing means by advancing means comprising a feed roll 4 and a feed bail 7 with a clamping piece 8 linked thereto, for releasing the labels 1. The label 1 located in its dispensing position and having been printed and released, for the major part, from the carrier strip 2, is still slightly held at its rearward edge, while it is positioned underneath a pressure engaging roll 9 at its leading edge, by means of which it can be rolled onto an article to be labelled.

The parts of the device necessary for printing the labels as well as for the advancement of the labels in predetermined increments are accommodated in a housing or frame which has a hollow handle 11 into which a primary lever shown hand lever 13 is pivotable about an axis 12 at the housing in counteraction to the biasing force of a primary spring 14. The printing mechanism 6 is carried by a secondary lever 15 which is likewise mounted for pivotal movement about the axis 12. A down-slap inking device 16 is urged, with its inking pad, by a spring 17 against the printing types of the printing mechanism 6 disposed in the printing position. The two levers 13 and 15 above their pivotal axis 12 have lever arms 18 and 19 opposing each other and between which a secondary spring in the form of compression spring 20 is seated. This compression spring 20 urges the secondary lever 15 with the abutment surface 21 against the abutment surface 22 of the hand lever 13. When the hand lever 13 is depressed or pivoted inwardly from a rest position toward a depressed position, the compression spring 20 arranged between the two lever arms 18 and 19 is compressed, because the spring 17 of the down-slap inking device 16 counteracts movement of the printing mechanism 6 against the printing platen 5, until a predetermined maximum biasing force has been overcome.

Despite the pivotal connection of the two levers l3 and 15, the printing mechanism 6 and the inking device are moved back by the primary spring 14 into their respective initial positions, when the hand lever 13 pivots back into the rest position. The abutment surfaces 22 and 21 are formed in such a way at the two levers 13 and 15 that they abut each other before the hand lever has reached its rest position. The abutment surfaces 21 and 22 of the two levers 13 and 15 are held in this engagement by prestressing the compression spring 20. The two levers 13 and 15 are thus pivotable relative to one another only to a limited extent.

The inking device 16 is urged against the printing mechanism 6 in the first position of the secondary lever 15 by the spring 17. This spring 17, together with the motion mechanism of the inking device, brings about a maximum resistance or predetermined biasing force which must be overcome before the printing mechanism 6 is able to be moved against the printing platen 5. Thus, the hand lever 13 is pivoted inwardly from the rest position toward the depressed position, initially the slightly prestressed compression spring 20 is compressed by a greater extent. By this compression of the compression spring 20, energy is stored which finally reaches a force which overcomes the resistance which counteracts the movement of the printing mechanism against the printing platen. As soon as this resistance has been overcome, the inking device 16 pivots out of the path of movement of the printing mechanism 6, the resistance counteracting the movement of the printing mechanism 6 being greatly decreased, so that the force stored in the compression spring 20 moves the printing mechanism 6 with increasing velocity against the label to be printed. The force with which the printing mechanism engages the label to be printed is constant and depends only upon the force of the spring 20 and the forces counteracting spring 20. After the hand lever 13 is released, the abutment surfaces 21, 22 of the two levers 13, 15 are engaged with one another, so that the printing mechanism 6 is returned to its initial position.

When the hand lever 13 is released, the secondary spring 20 is relieved until the abutment surface 22 of the hand lever 13 engages the abutment surface 21 of the lever 15. Then, the primary spring 14 returns the hand lever 13 to the rest position, the lever 15 being pivoted upwardly from the second position thereof to 'the initial or first position together with the printing mechanism 6. In doing so, the spring 17 pivots the inking device 16 back to the inking position.

In the printing operation, i.e. when pivoting the lever 15 from the first position to the second position thereof, the feed bail 7, pivotable about an axis 24 of the feed roll 4, is moved through the intermediary of a pin 25 secured thereto and engaging the lever 15 in such a way against the direction of rotation of the feed roll 4 that the pivotally secured clamping piece 8 respectively grips over a projection at the periphery of the feed roll 4. When the hand lever 13 is released, it is swung back under the bias of the spring 14, and the lever 15 lifts the pin 25 so that the feed bail 7 and the feed roll 4 are rotated by an angle which brings about an advancing movement of the label strip by an increment equal to one label 1.

Instead of the compression spring 20 arranged above the pivot axis 12, a tension spring could be arranged below the pivot axis 12. For instance, a rubber band or a similar strip or cord-like tension spring could be secured around the downwardly directed arms 26 and 27 of the levers 13 and 15.

It is to be understood that the above detailed description of an embodiment of the invention is provided by way of example only. Various details of design and construction may be modified without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A device for printing and dispensing labels carried on a label strip advanced in predetermined increments through the device, said device comprising:

a frame;

a printing platen on the frame;

advancing means on the frame for advancing the label strip relative to the platen;

a primary lever mounted on the frame for pivotal movement between a rest position and a depressed position;

a primary spring biasing the primary lever toward the rest position;

a secondary lever mounted on the frame for pivotal movement between a first position and a second position;

a printing mechanism carried by the secondary lever, said printing mechanism being located away from the printing platen when the secondary lever is at the first position and being located against the printing platen when the secondary lever is at the second position;

means biasing the secondary lever toward the first position with a predetermined maximum force; and

a secondary spring coupling the primary lever with the secondary lever such that the secondary lever will remain stationary while the primary lever is and the secondary lever are mounted for pivotal movement about a common axis.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever extend in opposite directions relative to the common axis.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever each include an abutment surface located laterally to one side of the common axis and said secondary spring is a compression spring located laterally to the other side of the common axis and urging the abutment surfaces against one another.

5. The device of claim 3 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever each include an abutment surface located laterally to one side of the common axis and said secondary spring is a tension spring located laterally to the same side of the common axis and urging the abutment surfaces against one another.

6. The device of claim 2 wherein the biasing means include a down-slap inking device engaging the printing mechanism carried by the secondary lever and a biasing spring urging the down-slap inking device against the printing mechanism with a force establishing said predetermined maximum force. 

1. A device for printing and dispensing labels carried on a label strip advanced in predetermined increments through the device, said device comprising: a frame; a printing platen on the frame; advancing means on the frame for advancing the label strip relative to the platen; a primary lever mounted on the frame for pivotal movement between a rest position and a depressed position; a primary spring biasing the primary lever toward the rest position; a secondary lever mounted on the frame for pivotal movement between a first position and a second position; a printing mechanism carried by the secondary lever, said printing mechanism being located away from the printing platen when the secondary lever is at the first position and being located against the printing platen when the secondary lever is at the second position; means biasing the secondary lever toward the first position with a predetermined maximum force; and a secondary spring coupling the primary lever with the secondary lever such that the secondary lever will remain stationary wHile the primary lever is moved from the rest position toward the depressed position, against the bias of the primary spring, until the force of the secondary spring overcomes the maximum force of the biasing means to move the secondary lever from the first position to the second position thereof.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever are mounted for pivotal movement about a common axis.
 3. The device of claim 2 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever extend in opposite directions relative to the common axis.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever each include an abutment surface located laterally to one side of the common axis and said secondary spring is a compression spring located laterally to the other side of the common axis and urging the abutment surfaces against one another.
 5. The device of claim 3 wherein the primary lever and the secondary lever each include an abutment surface located laterally to one side of the common axis and said secondary spring is a tension spring located laterally to the same side of the common axis and urging the abutment surfaces against one another.
 6. The device of claim 2 wherein the biasing means include a down-slap inking device engaging the printing mechanism carried by the secondary lever and a biasing spring urging the down-slap inking device against the printing mechanism with a force establishing said predetermined maximum force. 